Mofo Byron stole a puzzle from me, he deserved everything that happened to him.

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The Talos Principle 2 is probably the best looking game I've played this year. The visuals are stunning and the sound design is incredible. The world building is intriguing and animantes you to explore the whole map, the difficulty of the main puzzles are brilliant if you ask me. They are rarely so hard that you get stuck for a long ass time, but you still have to think a good amount to solve most puzzles. So congrats to the whole team for pulling that off.

The budget for this game had to be absolutely massive compared to other puzzle games and I'd recommend it to everyone.
I'm impressed that this is not a full price game to be honest, content-wise they could've priced it like one for sure.

I also appreciate that they put so much work into different endings which you wouldn't expect from a puzzle game, even tho the first game did kinda the same.

Although I enjoyed most parts of the game, there are also some criticisms I would like to make:

• When I think back to the first game, the interaction with Milton was a critical point in the story. This time around, they went for a more streamlined, plot-driven, less cryptic story. They still tried to tackle all these philosophical questions, but I didn't felt as challenged as much in my believes, as when I talked to Milton. It was unvelming to be completely honest because this was the main thing that stood out to me in the first game.
  
  
• As already said above, the went for a more plot-driven story, which I understand since the budget was probably so high they didn't wanted to take any unnecessary risks. Sadly, I think this was more or less poorly executed. The obligatory dialoge was well written, but everything else felt like it was written last minute. Like in the first game, a lot of the story is told through written text, but I feel like in 2023 it's a lazy way to tell a story in video games. You also get calls from your colleagues throughout the whole game in which they tell you how to proceed, what they think about all that stuff and so on and it feels like they didn't found another way to include the plot into the gameplay. I still think the plot itself is good, but I could've done without the few cutscenes because they broke the immersion for me. Personally, I would've prefered to stay in first person during those.
  
  
• Most of the environmental puzzles are great. That said, I don't quite understand why some of those had to involve jump & run elements. Some ideas just felt out of place. Some of them also felt really unnecessary, since it's a puzzle game and the main goal should be to solve them, they ask you to find insanely well hidden objects, without any hint where they could be on these open worlds, to even think of a solution. And exactly those ones also feel like they break the rules you were introduced to on the first few open worlds.
  
  
• Breaking rules is something that not only encountered me at the environmental puzzles, but also at the "normal" ones. Technically the never really broke any rules, but they demanded mechanics you were never really introduced to which was kind of a bummer.
  As stated above, the mandatory part of the game is not incredibly hard to solve. But as soon as you get to those golden gates, my god, the difficulty spikes like never before. Even tho I get why this was done and that it's also part of non-verbal communication when it comes to the plot, I felt like the spike was way to big.
  
  
• I also have a big problem with the UI. I assume they didn't wanted to take any risks because of the budget, but I feel like this game doesn't need any UI, specially, and I can't stress that enough, SPECIALLY no markers. They are used in such linear parts of the game that they just ruin the immersion for me, like, completely. I also feel like they were a bit lazy with the loading screen when resetting a puzzle as it just shows you a static image rather than a cool, game related animation like in the first game. But I liked how they concealed it while traveling.
  
  
• Let's get to a really minor part. The game really tries to animate you to keep going, it rewards everything you do with sound cues and beautiful visual effects. Like already said, they nailed that part completely. What I don't really get is why there is an achievement for beeing stuck at a puzzle for 20 minutes straight. I don't feel like this should be honored honestly, I would've rather prefered an achievement, like in the first game, for not using any help thoughout the game.

I know it sounds like a lot, but I can't stress enough how good this game is nevertheless. If you like puzzle games even in the slightest, please, go, support the devs and buy this game.

Mofo Byron stole a puzzle from me, he deserved everything that happened to him. [hr][/hr] [h3]Outstanding puzzle game[/h3] The Talos Principle 2 is probably the best looking game I've played this year. [b]The visuals are stunning and the sound design is incredible. The world building is intriguing and animantes you to explore the whole map, the difficulty of the main puzzles are brilliant if you ask me. They are rarely so hard that you get stuck for a long ass time, but you still have to think a good amount to solve most puzzles.[/b] So congrats to the whole team for pulling that off. The budget for this game had to be absolutely massive compared to other puzzle games and I'd recommend it to everyone. I'm impressed that this is not a full price game to be honest, content-wise they could've priced it like one for sure. I also appreciate that they put so much work into different endings which you wouldn't expect from a puzzle game, even tho the first game did kinda the same. Although I enjoyed most parts of the game, there are also some criticisms I would like to make: [list] [*]When I think back to the first game, the interaction with Milton was a critical point in the story. This time around, they went for a more streamlined, plot-driven, less cryptic story. They still tried to tackle all these philosophical questions, but I didn't felt as challenged as much in my believes, as when I talked to Milton. It was unvelming to be completely honest because this was the main thing that stood out to me in the first game. [*]As already said above, the went for a more plot-driven story, which I understand since the budget was probably so high they didn't wanted to take any unnecessary risks. Sadly, I think this was more or less poorly executed. The obligatory dialoge was well written, but everything else felt like it was written last minute. Like in the first game, a lot of the story is told through written text, but I feel like in 2023 it's a lazy way to tell a story in video games. You also get calls from your colleagues throughout the whole game in which they tell you how to proceed, what they think about all that stuff and so on and it feels like they didn't found another way to include the plot into the gameplay. I still think the plot itself is good, but I could've done without the few cutscenes because they broke the immersion for me. Personally, I would've prefered to stay in first person during those. [*]Most of the environmental puzzles are great. That said, I don't quite understand why some of those had to involve jump & run elements. Some ideas just felt out of place. Some of them also felt really unnecessary, since it's a puzzle game and the main goal should be to solve them, they ask you to find insanely well hidden objects, without any hint where they could be on these open worlds, to even think of a solution. And exactly those ones also feel like they break the rules you were introduced to on the first few open worlds. [*]Breaking rules is something that not only encountered me at the environmental puzzles, but also at the "normal" ones. Technically the never really broke any rules, but they demanded mechanics you were never really introduced to which was kind of a bummer. As stated above, the mandatory part of the game is not incredibly hard to solve. But as soon as you get to those golden gates, my god, the difficulty spikes like never before. Even tho I get why this was done and that it's also part of non-verbal communication when it comes to the plot, I felt like the spike was way to big. [*]I also have a big problem with the UI. I assume they didn't wanted to take any risks because of the budget, but I feel like this game doesn't need any UI, specially, and I can't stress that enough, SPECIALLY no markers. They are used in such linear parts of the game that they just ruin the immersion for me, like, completely. I also feel like they were a bit lazy with the loading screen when resetting a puzzle as it just shows you a static image rather than a cool, game related animation like in the first game. But I liked how they concealed it while traveling. [*]Let's get to a really minor part. The game really tries to animate you to keep going, it rewards everything you do with sound cues and beautiful visual effects. Like already said, they nailed that part completely. What I don't really get is why there is an achievement for beeing stuck at a puzzle for 20 minutes straight. I don't feel like this should be honored honestly, I would've rather prefered an achievement, like in the first game, for not using any help thoughout the game. [/list] I know it sounds like a lot, but [b]I can't stress enough how good this game is[/b] nevertheless. If you like puzzle games even in the slightest, please, go, support the devs and buy this game.